Track competes at NCC

anakoulouris

6 years ago

by John Pierri
STAFF WRITER

The Benedictine Men’s and Women’s track and field teams competed at the Chicagoland Championships on Friday and Saturday at North Central College. While injuries plagued both squads, there were a number of positive performances.

A youth movement for the women was in full effect, as sophomores Megan Ryan, Shana Cook and Sydney French had standout performances. Ryan ran the mile in 5:49.42 and Cook had a personal best in the shot-put, throwing for 10.16 meters. French continued the sophomores’ success by running a 2:46.65 800 meters.

“Despite all of the injuries our women’s team has sustained, we had a strong showing and effort from our girls this weekend,” explained senior Megan Kunesh, “They have been putting in so much time and effort, whether it’s on the track with workouts, hitting up the cardio room to help their legs heal or spending time in the athletic trainers doing rehab, they have been putting in an immense amount of work for our team.”

The men placed 11 out of 19 teams with a total of 20 points. The 4 x 200m relay team of Noel Duckworth, Greg German, Nicholas McCord and Robert Miller placed fifth with 1:36.69 for four points. Senior Nick McCord placed fourth in the long jump with his personal best of 6.78 meters, while freshman Billy Sipek had a personal record of his own by high-jumping 1.82 meters.

“I think the meet went really well for the team as a whole,” added sophomore Matt Lemming. “Although some of our team is battling through injuries, there were still numerous personal records set.”

“I believe our team is moving in the right direction, and I think we are still a deep enough squad to compete for the indoor conference title coming up in a couple weeks,” added Lemming.

“We just want to keep focusing on getting our legs [or any other injuries] taken care of now so that we can have a strong showing at our Conference meet in two weeks,” Kunesh explained. “We have a lot of potential, and we’re really excited to get everyone out there and compete.”

The men’s and women’s track and field teams will travel to the University of Chicago for the Margaret Bradley Invitational on Saturday the 18th.